SACRAMENTO — Right about now would be a good time to stop riding in the trunk of your buddy’s Buick. And while you’re at it, you might want to let Fido out of the front seat.

Oh, and be careful with that BB gun. Not only might you shoot your eye out, you could get in trouble with the authorities.

Monday brought a new year — and with it a host of new laws that took effect Jan. 1. Some are narrowly drawn: It will be illegal to ride in the trunk of a car, keep your pet cooped up in the car or shoot your BB gun in a malicious manner. Others are sweeping attempts to fix some of the state’s biggest problems.

Here’s a look at some of the new rules for a new year:

Bumping up wages

The new law with the broadest impact will likely be the increase in the state minimum wage, which will go up 75 cents, to $7.50 an hour.

The bill, AB1835, by Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, should make life a little easier for those who make the least, but it will at a cost for employers, who are likely to shift at least some of that burden to the rest of us.

“In terms of impact on the average Californian, what you’re going to see is when you go to your favorite restaurant the prices on most items will increaseby 5 to 10 cents,” predicts Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.

Pet projects

A number of new laws will go into effect to help protect animals. Among them:

-SB 1578 by Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, prohibits a person from chaining a dog to a doghouse, tree, fence or other stationary object for more than three hours a day, though it appears that hitching your horse would still be OK.

-SB 1349 by Sen. Nell Soto, D-Pomona, increases penalties for those convicted of staging animal fights. Repeat offenders can be charged with a felony.

-SB 1806 by Sen. Liz Figueroa, D-Fremont, makes it a misdemeanor to leave an animal unattended inside a closed vehicle in any condition — hot or cold weather, without food or water — that could endanger the animal.

Drive safely

Speaking of vehicles, the governor signed his share of new laws for drivers. Among them:

-AB 1850 by Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, R-Monrovia, prohibits riding in the trunk of a car or allowing someone to ride in your trunk, subject to a fine.

The law was written because teen drivers were hiding their friends in the trunk to get around another relatively new law — the one that prohibits them from driving with other teens until they have had their license for a year.

-SB 1542 by Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, could be especially helpful for forgetful drivers. The law would allow locksmiths to help people who lose their “smart keys” or lock them in their car. High-tech smart keys, which are becoming increasingly common, have restricted access codes that require the driver to go to the dealer. The new law requires dealers to share those codes with state-registered locksmiths.

-AB 2190 by Assemblyman John Benoit, R-Palm Desert, increases the penalties for illegal street racing, particularly when the race results in injury to another person.

-SB 1610 by Senator Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, requires drivers to slow down and, if safe, pull into an empty lane away from a roadside emergency scene. Otherwise, drivers risk a $50 ticket. According to Simitian, thousands of injuries and accidents result from a failure to move over or slow down when approaching emergency workers at an accident scene.

Safety first

And while we’re on the topic of safety, here’s a few more new laws:

-AB 178 by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, requires all cigarettes sold in California to meet new fire-safety requirements. The cigarettes are supposed to extinguish quickly after being dropped on a surface.

-AB 2977 by Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-San Francisco, requires the inclusion of at least one safety feature — such as a fence or a child alarm — when installing or remodeling a residential swimming pool or spa.

-SB 532 by Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, makes firing a BB gun in a grossly negligent manner a misdemeanor. The legislation was inspired by the shooting of an Orinda City Councilman whose spine was pierced with a .17-caliber pellet from an air-powered rifle.

Just because

Many new laws are inspired by tragic events. Others spring from events less tragic but notable nonetheless.

-SB 202 by Simitian, which got a boost from the Hewlett Packard “pretexting” scandal, prohibits the sale of telephone records without the subscriber’s permission.

-SB 1018, by Simitian and passed by the Legislature in 2005, will protect seniors by making bank, savings and loan, and credit union employees mandated reporters of elder financial abuse to Adult Protective Services or police. Health care professionals, social workers, nursing home workers and clergy are already mandated by law to report suspected elder abuse. “Bank employees are in the best position to report financial abuse as soon as it happens,” Simitian said in a statement. “This bill makes sure that they are required to act on their suspicions.”

And that’s just a sample of the new ways you can get into hot water. The Legislature passed 1,172 bills in 2006, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed 910 into law.

However, certain cell phone users — and you know who you are — can take some measure of comfort in the fact that not all of those new laws went into effect Monday.

SB 1613 by Simitian bans drivers from using a cell phone in a moving vehicle unless it is a hands-free device. But this law doesn’t take effect until July 1, 2008.

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